Keeping earwigs out of bulk grain

Does anyone have thoughts/ideas for storing bulk grain and keeping earwigs out of it?

buy a 5 gallon paint bucket from wal-mart, let it sit in the sun for 3-4 days to lose the plastic flavor, soak it in iodophor for 2 days, and it's ready to go

Totes? Poly drums? Drown the little bastards with some 154 degree water?

lumpher said:

buy a 5 gallon paint bucket from wal-mart, let it sit in the sun for 3-4 days to lose the plastic flavor, soak it in iodophor for 2 days, and it's ready to go

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I thought we were talking bulk. 5 gallon buckets only hold about 25lbs uncrushed

if it has earwigs, i'd dump it, and start from scratch. wouldn't want to brew earwig egg ale.

lumpher said:

if it has earwigs, i'd dump it, and start from scratch. wouldn't want to brew earwig egg ale.

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Don't dump. You'd be surprised how many bugs you eat daily.

If you have a current problem with bugs, freeze everything. It works. 2 days. During that time, spray the area. Bugs are easy to get rid of if you take action.

Grain often comes with bugs (grain weevils, mostly). If you are going to store bulk grain for any period of time, you will eventually have to deal with this.

passedpawn said:

Don't dump. You'd be surprised how many bugs you eat daily.

If you have a current problem with bugs, freeze everything. It works. 2 days. During that time, spray the area. Bugs are easy to get rid of if you take action.

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that will work. i don't get queasy easily at all, as i went through military training survival school, but i still don't want to consume wet bugs on purpose

They're just yeast nutes

I have my grains double-bagged and in rubbermaid tubs.

PS, look down below, there's a bunch of oterh threads. . .

An occasional earwig egg wouldn't phase me, but those things can get numerous if they find the right spot. I've picked up lawn chairs and watched 'em drop out of the hollow tubes by the hundreds. Looked like something out of an Indiana Jones movie.

I store mine in homer buckets, each one holds 25 pounds.

passedpawn said:

Don't dump. You'd be surprised how many bugs you eat daily.
.

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Yeah, don't be googling food colouring.

Make peace with them, offer them something better to eat in a container not close to your grain!

Revvy said:

I store mine in homer buckets, each one holds 25 pounds.

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+1... and mine are kept in a rather "moist" basement...grain is clean and dry!!!

Revvy said:

I store mine in homer buckets, each one holds 25 pounds.

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Post #4, must be an echo in here

I do the same, except I outfitted them with some gamma seal lids to keep them totally airtight.

Made to order!

I picked this up at Tractor Supply. It's got a nice little gasket around the lid to keep it air tight.

http://www.tractorsupply.com/pet-ca...de-airtight-pet-food-container-45-qt--2447143

I separate mine into Zip locks(8-2.5 -2-1 lb bags) then put them into rubbermaid toots with lids. Makes it easy on brew day, just grab what you need and dump into the hopper.

Those earwigs either came in from your yard, or in the grain itself. My guess would be they came in from the yard. I sprinkled Sevin dust around the base of my house 2 years ago & haven't had an earwig in the house since. I still store my grain sealed in plastic bags though. Regards, GF.

I buy 2-row and marris otter in 50-55 lb bags and each one splits into two buckets sealed with gamma seal lids. They are air and water tight and I don't think there is a better way to store grain. Make sure you push the outter ring down very hard so it snaps in place. Mine were not until I realized I did it wrong.

http://www.pleasanthillgrain.com/plastic_bucket_5_gallon_buckets_6_container_gamma_lid_lids.aspx

p.s. ya gotta love the sound they make when you spin the lid closed.

I use 5 gal pails with gasket lids that need to be hammered on but I'm ordering gamma seal lids this week because I'm tired of fighting with the other ones.

TwoGunz said:

I use 5 gal pails with gasket lids that need to be hammered on but I'm ordering gamma seal lids this week because I'm tired of fighting with the other ones.

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You'll love em TwoGunz... worth every penny.

+1 Gamma Seal lids. If you have the bucks, the big vittles vaults will hold 50lb of grain. I always freeze it for three days to kill anything lurking in the grain, then seal it in a bucket. If there isn't anything living in in when it goes in the bucket, then it will stay that way for sure.

L

Double ziploc's and (not air tight) rubbermaid lids are not gonna cut it. I have first hand experience at that! Grain weevils will easily find a way into the rubbermaid bin, and will easily eat through the ziploc's.

M_C

I do not know if this will help you or not but...

When I was growing up my room was in the basement. In Iowa it rains a lot so the ground is moist and earwigs are everywhere (at least in my part of the state). I read online somewhere that they love olive oil so I put a little dish of olive oil in the basement windows that I suspected they were getting in from. After about a month or so I didnt see any more earwigs... I checked the olive oil dishes and they were all full of earwigs.. 100's drowned in every dish. Worth a try.

Edit:
A side note... I used to have tarantulas as pets. I did a great deal of work trying to keep them escaping their cages as they can climb glass. The best thing was using a thin line of vasaline around the perimiter of their tank... If you got a rubbermaid tub and lined it w vasoline I dont see how that wouldnt work.